Can you stop drinking?

Better sleep and workouts might await if you can stay dry

January 10, 2006|By Los Angeles Times.

For a group of moderate social drinkers, hopping on the wagon for a month shouldn't have been that daunting a task.

These are not just any moderate drinkers, but a handful of men and women who are exceptionally fit, as in training-for-a-marathon fit. They are used to discipline and healthy lifestyles, people who can get through a rigorous boot camp class. Yet some found that wagon trip more uncomfortable than they thought, and didn't last a month. Some didn't make it a week.

"It was really hard," says 34-year-old participant Lala Alvarez, who works in marketing for Starz. "I told people I was laying off the alcohol, and there was this pressure-- 'Have a drink with us! This drink tastes fantastic!' I'm like, stop it."

The few who made it, successfully braving social occasions and intense peer pressure, now are believers in what their boot camp instructor promised all along (although almost all started drinking again after the month was over): No alcohol means better sleep, more energy, healthier eating habits--and improved workouts.

The idea was hatched in October by their boot camp instructor, Marco Reed, who had gone without alcohol for a month and found it gave him more confidence, improved his memory and boosted his energy.

"I actually felt amazing," Reed says. "I felt more clear. I had control over my actions." And after a while, he adds, he didn't feel like drinking "was something I had to do."

Reed has encouraged individual clients to stop drinking, especially those training for something such as a marathon or those with hefty weight-loss goals.

"I find that people who drink have trouble getting to their fitness goals," Reed says. Drinking "is really a sabotage. It breaks down their discipline."

Everyone involved in the challenge discovered that even for the occasional drinker, there's more to quitting cold turkey than saying "I'll pass." There's the Pavlovian desire that kicks in Friday around 6 p.m.; coping with social activities built around drinking; and the well-meaning and not-so-well-meaning attempts by friends and family to derail healthful habits.

Jimena Barrera was surprised at the pressure to drink. "I figured everyone around me is a mature adult," says the 31-year-old medical office worker. "But it's a bonding thing, that's how they look at it."

"I tend to drink with the same people, so if we could do it as a group it might be easier," says the 40-year-old account manager for Starz.

That isn't a bad idea, says psychologist Charlie Brown, a spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine. He believes a strong support system is key to fulfilling such a goal, as is avoiding risky situations and not broadcasting your sobriety to drinkers.

If all else fails, keep in mind this revelation from thirtysomething participant Melissa Bolton: "The more sober you are, the less entertaining drunk people are."

No fooling your trainer

Think you'll be able to make it through that morning workout or aerobics class without your instructor noticing you were drinking the night before? Thank again, say L.A. personal trainer Marco Reed. He says he can tell: signs include smelling like alcohol, exercising with less gusto and seeming a bit "off."